PICTURE: Berbatov is a Fulham player

August 31, 2012

“I’m delighted to have signed for Fulham and I look forward to playing under Martin Jol once again,” said Berbatov. “As soon as I was aware of Fulham’s interest my decision to join was an easy one to make. I’m impressed with the set up here and the people have made me feel welcome. There is a close and personal feel around the Club and I can’t wait to get started.”

Sorry to see him go but glad he's gone to a decent club with a good manager, someone who'll maybe do more to get the best out of Berba than Fergie did. I think Berba was sometimes treated appallingly at United, often in stupid ways. Even if Fergie wanted to re-boot the style and formation of the team to go for a quicker build-up (perfectly resonable) there was no need to humiliate him, as when excluding him totally for the Champions League Final against Barca in 2011. Why have Owen on the bench, who surely merely replicated what Hernandez had to offer, while excluding Berba, the one player who could have held up the ball for spells to give the over-burdened defence a bit of respite?

The other stupidity was by treating Berba so cavalierly the world knew he'd become surplus to requirements, and thus available on the cheap, as with the Fulham deal. United have taken a massive loss on Berbatov, which would have been far less severe if he'd been given the time on the pitch his talents deserved. I think Fergie handled all of this badly, and I hope we don't now get the bitter inside story of how Berba felt about it all, which would damage United and Fergie's ability to attract top players in future - already something of an issue, I'd suggest, depite the capture of Robin Van Persie.

Meanwhile, with Fulham a local club, I hope maybe I'll see Berba in my local Waitrose (more likel;y than Tesco, I suspect) I'll thank him for what he did for United, even if it maybe could have been more.

- On point, as usual. Never understood why he was left out of the final, which automatically cast him out of the squad and consequently diminished his marked value. I would have preferred he was sold that summer, instead of keeping him around without any chance of getting in the squad. Not only would we have got a better fee for him, but he would have been happier getting football elsewhere.

Glad he is staying in PL but I wish things would have worked out differently for him and UTD. Class-on and off the field. No matter what people say about his playing style, I would much rather watch him play than any other striker at the moment. Build a team around team and he will get you the goals. Beautiful player who oozed class on and off the field. All the best Berba.

If I was him, I would have lashed out about a couple of things that happened during the last 15 months. But he's left with the same class he showed on the pitch. So don't worry about him turning bitter.

Too many Reds fans forget how the mercurial Berba staked us to #19. Has a Golden Boot ever gone from such Olympian heights to the type of lows as our Bulgarian? Would Tevez or Balotelli have reacted with the same type of professionalism displayed by Berba following his 10-11 season? I hope in the following years history judges Berba kindly; his character is the stuff of genuine champions.